Woop woop Super Rugby showed up again this weekend and rocked my shit. Brace yourself children because I’m gonna give you the lowdown on what happened.
There was only game of footie played in NZed this weekend with Crusaders taking on the Brumbies of Australia in Nelson. The Crusaders ran out winners 52 – 10 in an emphatic statement of intent from the men in Red. The ‘Saders played out of their skins and made the Wallaby laden Brumbies look like a pack of jokers. It really was an exhibition of rugby; people learning to play rugby should be forced to watch this game as some kind of 1984 big brother style indoctrination technique. If I had to single out a couple players from this super team performance it would be winger Sean Maitland who gathered a 4 tries and the brothers Whitelock, Sam and George, who never seem to give less than 100%. In related news, The Crusaders – Sharks game will now be played at Twickenham in 2 weeks time. If you are London then I implore you to go watch that shit. It’s basically an All Black v Springbok test and should be an amazing occasion.
We move to Skippy the Kangaroo’s homeland, Australia. The Rebels faced the Sharks at home and were looking to topple the unbeaten Sharkies. The Sharks had an off day but still ran out 34-32 winners by sheer force of will and experience alone. They simply had too much nous for the Super Rugby new boys and kept their unbeaten record. In a major positive for the Rebels, Danny Cipriani showed his class and flipped Martin “I’m so English” Johnson the bird by playing very, very well. Hooker Bismarck Du Plessis was his typical robust self for the Sharks and looked like a man among children. The Western “use the” Force (Star Wars reference, AW YEAH) faced off against the Blues in Perth and the match ended in a draw, 22-22. The Force deserved a win and the Blues, who looked they were already on the plane home, were lucky to escape with the 2 points. The Force just can’t seem to get over the line in their games but they will be a real test for touring teams facing them at home. Force lock continued to stick his paw up for Wallaby selection by having the work rate of a honey bee on Ritalin. The Blues had very few standouts but cap’n Keven Mealumu did all he needed to do to make sure the Blues didn’t lose.
The Cheetahs and the Lions played each other in a battle of the wooden spoon/teams with names relating to felines with both teams winless up until this stage. The Lions grabbed their first win in 19 games by outscoring the Cheetahs 25-20. I was flippen happy for the Lions as they really cleaned up their act this year and have been playing super positive rugby all year. Heinrich Brussow played his first game in over an year for the Cheetahs and showed all the signs of a guy that has not lost any of the talent that made him such a breakout star in 2009. Lions eighthman Warren Whiteley had a another blockbuster of a game and adds to South Africa’s ridiculous store of loosies. Over in Cape Town, The Stormers played this year’s surprise package the Highlanders. The ‘Landers wanted to build upon their historic win last week against the Bulls but were tackled into submission by the Stormers, losing 18-6. Now I know tackled into submission has been used before to describe a team but the Stormers nearly tackled some of the Highlanders players into a fucking coma. It was an amazing defensive display but another pedestrian attacking one. Hell, I might start campaigning for them to join the Guinness Premiership with the brand of boring rugby they’re playing these days. Francois Louw played really well and affected numerous turnovers.
And that is that for this week guys. Live long and prosper.
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